Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

On this day in 1993, two new countries were born out of the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia spent months negotiating all of the old country's assets, even which side got which verses of the national anthem. Plus: many of us have tried to learn new skills during our extra time at home. Anna Chojnicka was one of them, and the skill she chose was to make art out of bana...

A paleoanthrological study in the caves of Atapuerca, Spain, finds that hundreds of thousands of years ago, human ancestors tried something along the lines of hibernation, holing up in the caves for months during winter. It didn't go all that well, though. Plus: you've heard of the ball drop on New Year's Eve in Times Square. But have you heard of the new year's pickle drop in Mt. Olive, North Car...

If one of your new year’s resolutions is to see if you can cut down on your energy use, this might be a way to do it: a tabletop laundry dryer that can finish a cycle in just 15 minutes. Plus: ever tried listening to a record made of chocolate? You can.  This Tabletop Clothes Dryer Uses Vacuum Dehydration Technology To Dry Clothes In 15 Minutes (Yanko Design) Playing a Chocolate Record (Techm...

A new study from researchers at Aoyama Gakuin University and Osaka University finds that something interesting happens when we’re trying not to reveal something: our perception of time slows down. Plus: MIT physicists have designed a model for a super-accurate atomic clock that even accounts for quantum physics.  New psychology research confirms that time slows down when you are concealing so...

On this day in 1973, something happened aboard the Skylab space station. Depending on who you talk to, it was somewhere between a "sensitivity session" between astronauts and ground crew, and a full-on space mutiny. Plus: Japanese Lego artist Jumpei Mitsui just created an all-brick version of Hokusai's famous print "The Great Wave off Kanagawa." The Real Story of the Skylab 4 “Strike” in Space (NA...

Ever tried to re-gift a present you didn't need? Two brothers-in-law kept giving each other the same pair of pants for decades - and in increasingly complicated wrappings. Plus: ever hear about the time Alex Trebek walked onto the Jeopardy! set without pants?  Brothers Traded Moleskin Pants as an Annual Christmas Gift (Snopes) Jeopardy! Flashback: Alex Trebek Without Pants (Jeopardy!)

Why does NORAD watch Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, while watching for missiles and bombers the rest of the time? It all started when an ad for a Santa Claus hotline accidentally published a military hotline number during the Cold War. Plus: a gag gift known as the "Nothing Box" was maybe one present that wasn't supposed to travel through the skies at Christmastime.  NORAD Santa Tracker: 64-ye...

In 1843, British civil servant Henry Cole wanted a way to send holiday greetings to friends, colleagues and loved ones without having to write letter after letter. And that's where commercial Christmas cards began. Plus: did you know that chili pepper plants were once considered just as festive as poinsettias? Dear (Whoever You Are), Here’s the First Christmas Card (Library of Congress) Intriguing...

For centuries, mistletoe has been a symbol of holiday love, renewal and fertility. Even though it's actually a parasite that steals nutrients from trees. Plus: a poinsettia in the suburbs of Montreal has gone from half-dead to entirely huge!  This Is Why We Kiss Under the Mistletoe (Readers Digest) 'Crappy half-dead' poinsettia from grocery store just won't stop growing (CBC) Our backers on P...

It was today in 1913 that the first modern crossword puzzle was published in the New York World newspaper, eventually leading to a craze that cruciverbalists all over the world have been enjoying ever since. Plus: an invention that didn’t last as long as the crossword - though it was designed to.  100 years of crosswords: the first appeared in New York on 21.12.1913 (The Guardian) Crossword P...

It's Full Color Week, where we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about color. In this episode from October 2020, scientists at Purdue University have a way to help keep us cool to the point that  we might not even need air conditioning, and all it takes is a fresh coat of a special paint. Plus: the town of Asbestos, Quebec has finally chosen a new name! New 'Super-White' Paint Can Co...

It's Full Color Week, where we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about color. In this episode from October 2020, we look at the days when auto workers spray painted new vehicles, and excess paint would harden and accumulate into a substance that looked like colorful gemstones. Jewelers have been making works of art out of "fordite" ever  since. Plus: ever wanted to make a bread bowl...

It's Full Color Week, where we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about color. In this episode from August 2020, chemists at Indiana University and the University of Copenhagen have found a way to make the brightest fluorescent materials ever made. Plus: for World Elephant Day, meet Lucy, the elephant-shaped hotel on the Jersey Shore. Chemists create the brightest-ever fluorescent material...

It's Full Color Week, where we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about color. In this episode from July 2020, we're talking about Vantablack, a color that’s so black it absorbs almost all of the  light nearby. There’s new research out about a “vantafish” that does  almost the same thing to avoid its hungry bioluminescent neighbors.  Plus: you’ve heard of drive-in theaters;...

It's Full Color Week, where we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about color. In this episode from September 2019, we look at how paintings made with Day Glo paint are losing their glow over time. Conservationists don’t yet  know how to solve this puzzle, but we do at least know how Day Glo got started. Plus: meet a color that absorbs 99.995 percent of incoming  light. Even Nige...

A Spanish tech startup called Bioo has built an installation in which plants serve as the keys of a kind of "green piano." Plus: for International Mountain Day, a look at some of the peaks with more down-to-earth names.  Ethereal Sounds Are Emanating From the World’s First ‘Piano’ Made From Plants (GoodNewsNetwork) 11 Summits with Outrageous Names (Backpacker) Climb every mountain, ford every...

Today's the birthday of Ada Lovelace, known as the first computer programmer. She also dreamed up the idea of generating music through a computer program, so if you've ever made music with a synthesizer, you're following in her footsteps. Plus: today's the anniversary of the day Wyoming passed its first-of-a-kind law guaranteeing women could vote and hold office.  Remembering Ada Lovelace, co...

Today in 1953, two NHL teams racked up a then-record 204 penalty minutes, in a game that’s officially 60 minutes long. Hockey is a rough sport. Plus a guitarist in Japan can play blues riffs with a cheerful little parakeet on his hand!  This Day in Hockey History – December 9, 1953 – Canadiens Rhubarb Leafs (The Pink Puck) Guitarist Plays a Rockabilly Riff With Bird on His Hand (Laughing Squi...

A California company is building an all-electric platform designed specifically to keep classic and vintage cars with gas engines on the road, with much smaller carbon footprints. Plus: ever heard a jazz solo on the bagpipes? No? You might be missing out.  Thanks to Zero Labs, Any Classic Car Can Transform Into an Electric 'Clean Energy Hero' (Designboom) Jazz Bagpipes Exists and Is Amazing (...

A team out of New Curtin University in Australia has found that pilot whales appear to imitate one of their predators, tricking them away from the hunt. And in equally clever but much more irritating news, a neighborhood in Ottawa, Ontario reports squirrels are stealing the LED lights out of their holiday displays.  Pilot whale study reveals copycat calls to outsmart predators (Science Daily)...

For National Cookie Day, we take a closer look at the amazing and frequently disturbing history of gingerbread, including how one of the most famous royals of all time helped bring gingerbread people into the world. Plus: a lesson in patience from a musical great who made herself into a cookie-baking expert.  The History of Gingerbread (PBS) 5 Facts You Probably Don't Know About Christmas Coo...

Some galleries showcase works of art; others show you what it's like when there's nothing on the canvas. Today we pay a virtual visit to a museum where all the works explore the concept of nothingness. Plus: the Chic!ken photo project aims to show that chickens can be the subjects of fine art.  A Museum of Nothing (Metafilter) Portraits of “Most Beautiful Chickens on the Planet” Capture Their...

Hyundai is now working to develop what it calls "ultimate mobility vehicles." When they encounter rough terrain the wheels can't pass through, these cars will be able to stand up on robotic legs and walk through. Plus: a guy on TikTok is winning fans with his four-wheel-drive off-road lawn mower.  Hyundai gets serious about unstoppable, four-legged 4x4 robo-cars (New Atlas) This Off-Road Lawn...

We use hundreds of billions of latex gloves a year, for a lot of important reasons. Scientists at Cranfield University in the UK are developing an eco-friendly latex glove that uses less energy to produce and will biodegrade in weeks rather than centuries. Plus: today in 1997, Kenny G set a world record for longest single note played on a saxophone.  How a new type of glove can reduce environ...

Today in 1977, it was the premiere of Bing Crosby's final TV Christmas special, Merrie Olde Christmas , which featured a performance with Crosby's unlikeliest duet partner ever: David Bowie. Here's the story of how it came together. Plus: for Mark Twain's birthday, the story of the note he put on his front door for any potential burglars. When Bowie Met Bing: Mary Crosby Relives Their Iconic Duet...